NOVEMBBB 22, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



703 



FACULTY FARTICIFATION IN UNIVER- 

 SITY GOVEENMENT^ 



The present government of American 

 universities and colleges is altogether anom- 

 alous. The president and trustees hold the 

 reins of power and exercise supreme con- 

 trol, while the professors are legally in the 

 position of employees of the corporation. 

 In the best institutions, however, it should 

 be explicitly recognized that the status of 

 the professors is in practise a good deal 

 better than could be claimed as a matter of 

 mere legal right. In the first place, the 

 professors hold office for life or during good 

 behavior or till the arrival of the age for 

 superannuation with a reasonable pension. 

 And in the second place, in the best Amer- 

 ican universities all educational matters 

 have been either formally or by tacit con- 

 sent delegated by the trustees to the facul- 

 ties for authorization and final disposition. 

 The place of the faculty as the sole educa- 

 tional authority of the university may be 

 considered established, even though in 

 some reputable universities the board of 

 trustees reserves the right of veto or re- 

 vision. Certainly in Cornell University 

 the supremacy of the faculty in all educa- 

 tional matters has been maintained for a 

 score of years, and professorial tenure of 

 office is permanent and secure. Further- 

 more, the right to absolute freedom of 

 thought and speech for all members of the 

 faculty has been vigorously asserted and 

 constantly enjoyed. 



It should, therefore, at the outset be 

 candidly acknowledged that a professor 

 who enjoys a life-tenure of office, who is ab- 

 solutely free to think and speak and write 

 what he believes to be the truth, and who is 

 a member of a body which controls the edu- 

 cational administration of the iiniversity, 

 is already in possession and enjoyment of 



^ From the report to the trustees of Cornell Uni- 

 versity by President J. G. Sehurman. 



the highest, best and most vital things 

 which inhere in his calling and function. 

 Yet while all this is true the professor may 

 be dissatisfied with the other conditions 

 under which he is compelled to do his work. 

 And this is undoubtedly the case in Amer- 

 ica. 



Compare the American professor with 

 the scholars and scientists of Oxford and 

 Cambridge. They are their own boards of 

 trustees. The legal corporation of an Ox- 

 ford or Cambridge college is composed of 

 the head (president, master, or whatever 

 other name may be given to him) and the 

 fellows, who are the teachers of the insti- 

 tution ; and this body fills all vacancies by 

 cooptation. Again in the two universities 

 with which these self-governing colleges 

 are connected there is a similar exercise of 

 authority by the professors, and if it is not 

 so complete that is only because it is shared 

 by the nonresident Masters of Arts. 



Look again at a German university. The 

 state furnishes the funds for its mainte- 

 nance and development, but, subject to the 

 very light touch of a minister of education, 

 the government of the university is in the 

 hands of the faculty. 



What the American professor wants is 

 the same status, the same authority, the 

 same participation in the government of his 

 university as his colleague in England, in 

 Germany and in other European countries 

 already enjoys. He chafes at being under 

 a board of trustees which in his most crit- 

 ical moods he feels to be alien to the Ee- 

 public of Science and Letters. Even in his 

 kindliest moods he can not think that board 

 representative of the university. For the 

 university is an intellectual organization, 

 composed essentially of devotees of knowl- 

 edge — some investigating, some communi- 

 cating, some acquiring — but all dedicated 

 to the intellectual life. To this essential 

 fact the American professor wants the gov- 



